Unvailed Faces

Take Off Your Mask "And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3:18) "Unveiled faces" (2 Corinthians 3:7–13), Here Paul refers Moses, Moses had covered his face to protct the people from its brightness radiating out from it of the glory of God He then cover his face with a veil, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away," it seems like maybe the light from Moaes face after being in the presence of God was so bright and spectacular, that the people could not look into that light, or it may have killed them. Listen to (Exodus 33:19-21) "Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. Paul goes on to explain that under the New Covenant, which came in Jesus Christ, this veil could now be removed when someone asks Christ to come and dwell within them,in turning to Christ the Holy Spirit comes and lifts that vail and begins to give us an understanding of our new life in Christ. We as believers no longer have to look at God's glory from afar or through the coloured glasses of the law But rather we are transformed, forgiven and set free from the law, where because of our changed lives the law no longer take affect, or we should be to the place where we live above the law. This submission to the law is kind of like two students who went to bible school, student number one said to the other student, the rules of this school are rediculous ly strict I can't stand them. The other student responded to the first student, "What rules" the difference was, the one student was trying to abid by the rules (laws) the other student was living above the rules, therefore he/she said, "WHAT RULES" In Christ we are a new creation, (2 Corinthians 5:17) says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Yes, transformation has taken place, forgiveness has happened, and we have been reconciled to God. : Now the vail has been taken from our face, from our eyes and we have an "unveiled face" we have an open door into the presence of God, a direct, open access to God no longer having a vail, but rather we have a teacher in the form of the Holy Spirit that has come to teach us all things. (John 14:26) But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.. As people fix their gaze on Jesus, the Holy Spirit actively transforms them step-by-step into His likeness ("from glory to glory") In a drama or in a play, often the actors dress up and put on face paint and make up to change their appearance y=to look like the character they are playing. Well, the vail or mask spoken of in our text today, is a vail that sin puts on us so we cannot understand or know God. I want you to know that just as the make up and masks in a drama are not permanent, neither dose the mask of sin have to be permanent, these masks of sin does not represent the perfect person God created in the first place. But this is not the vail taked about here in 2 Corinthians, Moses put a vail over his face to protect the people from being killed by the powerful glory of God. So the vail of sin that blinds the eyes of the people and the vail that protected them could only be lifted by Christ. Just as the masks in a drama whould be taken off when the production was over. Put on for the performance, the facial disguises were taken off when the production was over. So P{aul in Colossians 3:10, tells believers in Jesus to be encouraged by “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” Rather than a temporary mask or vail that is worn to entertain people, we need to take off that mask and live daily for God, we no longer need a vail of a mask. Our life in Christ should be displayed as a permanent part of life that will be seen each day by all who are watching. Its not a performace, but rather a life style. The apostle says to “put off your old self” (your old masks, taking off the vail) (Ephesians 4:22)—no longer living the old sinful life we once lived before receiving salvation in Christ, when the masks were to come off and we were to put on a new life. Which means our old habits and sins need to stop and our new life needs to start, and people should be able to see the difference. and putting on a new self doesn’t just happen naturally. Paul teaches us that we need “to be made new in the attitude of [our] minds” (v. 23). By renewing our minds. (Romans 12:2) "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.) When this happens, we begin living a new life, it changes our thinking paterns and we recognize that as a believer we are “created to be like God and live righteous and holy” lives (v. 24). Friends, lets look into the mirror and take off the masks we are wearing, Becuase by God's grace we can be real.. Yes, by God’s grace, we can put on the true image of Jesus so the world knows that He’s living within us. At salvatin, when we are born again, the Holy Spirit comes in and the power of God is ours, and in Christ we take off the fake masks we both Christian and unchristian puts on. It is time we stop wearing masks, that make us look like the world around us, a put on the clothing of Christ, and start living like we as believers should and let our lights shine in the darkness rather than drying to fade into the darkness around us. God told us to come out of the world. Let me leave you with a few verses (2 Corinthians 6:17), says: "Therefore, 'Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.'" (also read - Isaiah 52:11) (John 15:19): Jesus says, "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world." (Romans 12:2): "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." And (Revelation 18:4): This is - "A call to God's people to depart from the corrupt system of "Babylon" (the world) so they do not share in its sins. Ps, many years ago, I realized that there are many ways of wearing masks, and this day, this time of year, was one of them. Where we as believers fell into the crack of wanting to be like the world. It was a time when we put on a mask and we could be and do, whatever "WE" wanted to do. We could wear a mask and go out and do things that would reflect our old life, with no regard for those we done things too both in appearance and in action. I realized I needed to “put on” Jesus on each and every day, not taking any part in the works of darkness around me in the world. Pray with me, Dear Jesus please give me decernment, in the things I get involved in that seems good, and yet it is condoning the things done that at the very core is evil, and it only has a mask of to make uit seem good. Lord a good ecample of that is halloween. Lord I pray that my life may be a true representation of who You are, 365 days a year. I need to not partake in any evil practice in any way or form, Lord please help me be a true believer who is separated from the things of the world, and yet still being in the owrld as a light unto the world. Please help me be real each and every day for You.It is in your name I pray AMEN